Hypnotist Frank Santos Puts on a Hilarious Performance for WHS Students

Sophie Murray

Participants under hypnosis believe that they are being tickled.

Walpole High School held its annual hypnotist show Monday, Feb. 6, put together by the Walpole High School Student Council (STUCO). This performance, led by hypnotist Frank Santos, was a humorous experience enjoyed by WHS students in attendance. Many seniors and even one junior were invited up to the stage, but not all lasted under hypnosis.

Santos began the show by asking all participants to rest their hands on their legs, tilt their head back and relax. He then said that if he used the word “sleep” at any time during the show, participants would be put under hypnosis. He continued to tell the participants that their hands were glued to their legs and that he was the only one that would be able to move them. Santos went around to each student asking if they were able to lift their hand up. Five original senior participants did not last on stage as the hypnosis did not work on them.

Santos started his show and quickly began making up funny scenarios that would be acted out by the participants under hypnosis. Senior Ryan Fowkes, Stephen Bond and Marcus Gertoutski were told to act like fitness experts who just flew in from California to promote fitness. They took center stage and flexed their muscles for everyone to see. The three put on a show, showing off their muscles in different poses that left the other contestants thoroughly impressed. Another entertaining act was when McDonald, Briscoe, Manos and Kaselis were told to pretend they were power rangers and each got five seconds to show off their impressive karate moves that the boys were in awe of. 

By far the most hectic act was when Santos made all the contestants feel as if they had to urgently go to the bathroom. Each person was unable to go to the bathroom meaning they had to endure the uncomfortable feeling. While most students felt like they had to go to the bathroom, for Gurtotwski, whenever the word “bathroom” was said, Santos was able to make his seat get really hot. When Fowkes tried to go down the stairs to the bathroom, his hand got stuck to the railing. A student then came up from the audience and Santos said she had magic powers that would get him unstuck if she snapped her fingers. This led Fowkes to sing to her begging for her to snap her fingers for his release. 

As the show neared the end, the audience got to experience two singing numbers. The first one was an America’s Got Talent act where Manos, Kaselis, Briscoe and McDonald all sang “Love Story” by Taylor Swift for Bond, Gurtowski and Walsh, their judges. Bond performed the last singing number, as he sang “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey with backup dancers, air pianists, guitarists and drummers. Finally, the show ended in a dance competition with the girls pretending to be ballerinas competing for $25,000 against the boys who were acting as “Pro Butt Shakers.” The audience got to see the four girls show off their graceful ballet moves consisting of lots of jumps and twirls ending with a grand bow while the boys shook their butts at the audience which everyone got a kick out of. 

  “I was conscious of everything I was doing but it felt like I could not control anything I was saying,” Briscoe said as she recalled her experiences. 

After the event, many of the participants felt as if they could not remember what had just happened and felt unnatural even though they were conscious throughout. Another question widely asked by audience members was whether the participants were faking the whole thing. While Gurtowtski said he can’t speak for others’ experiences, it was a very real experience for him. While the audience members had their own opinions on the performance, it seems accurate to assume that, coming from the participants, most of this event was not performed by any acting skills. “Thinking about it now, it’s so weird like how my actual senses can be altered just by a dude talking,” Gurtowski said after talking about how he was not faking his performance. 

The event was a fun-filled night for audience members as they got to see their peers perform funny acts that left everyone laughing and with smiles on their faces. STUCO plans on bringing back this fun filled event next year and will continue to keep the tradition going each year.